Eric Jou

Two young Chinese men are in custody for attacking a taxi driver with a knife and stealing his taxi last month. The young men wanted to sell the car for quick cash. Cash to play online games with.

Twenty five year-old Liu and 26 year-old Li were both from the same village outside of Guomi city in Shangdong province. Liu, after having an argument with his wife, left his home taking about 1000 Rmb in cash ($160). After arriving in the city, Liu holed himself up in an internet cafe, spending his time playing online games and other activities associated with internet cafes.

After a month-long binge, Liu was out of money. He started to steal from other patrons inside the cafe, amassing a total of about $30. Liu eventually met Li who was also from his village. The two had dinner, and they both realized they desperately needed money, so they hatched a scheme. They set their sights on stealing a taxi.

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On the evening of December 12. last year, the duo took a knife, and hailed a cab. They gave the driver one destination and when they almost arrived they asked the driver to go somewhere else. When the driver reached a lonely stretch of road, the duo pounced. They stole two mobile phones and about $112. They ejected the driver and took the taxi, hoping to sell it for cash. Unfortunately for the duo, the road conditions weren't very good, and probably because they weren't very good drivers, they crashed into a tree on the side of the road. The duo had to abandon the vehicle and escape on foot.

The cabbie found a phone and called the police, who managed to track the vehicle via GPS and found it on the side of a road, in a ditch in front of a tree. After questioning the cabbie, the police had a composite of what Liu and Li looked like. They also learned that the duo had been picked up at a net cafe.

Within a month, local police found Liu up to no good in an internet cafe. Taking him in, police got Liu to sell Li out. Li was picked up by police earlier last week. In the end, Liu and Li were only able to make a few hundred rmb from the theft by selling the phones. They are now in jail.